OSTON -- A Massachusetts high school lost a state championship game because a player raised his arm in triumph as he ran for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown, and Boston mayor Thomas Menino doesn't like it.

The penalty for the gesture by Cathedral High School quarterback Matthew Owens in Saturday's Division 4A Super Bowl led to the losing team wondering if the referee's decision could be challenged. The state association said Wednesday that it could not.

"I think sometimes these rules are written by frustrated athletes," Menino said from Cathedral, according to Wednesday's Boston Herald. "They never participated in a sport, and they don't know what it is to be excited. You play in a football game, you run for a touchdown, and you do something special."

Blue Hills Regional Technical School athletic director Ed Catabia told The Boston Globe on Sunday that the referee made "a great call, the right call."

"We try and play by the rules, and the rule is 'no celebrating,' " he said.

The referee was enforcing a sportsmanship rule that prohibits players from celebratory or taunting behavior while scoring a touchdown.

The 18-year-old senior was racing for a score as time wound down in the game against Blue Hills. Video shows Owens briefly raising his left arm and then lowering it as he approaches the end zone. The penalty nullified the touchdown, and Cathedral lost the game 16-14.

LSU’s Brad Wing faked a punt and ran it in for a TD but opened his arms up to a Gator before scoring and they penalized the team. Didn’t cost them game, but it did cost him the 6 points. Just score and go back to the sideline.

2
posted on 12/07/2011 7:51:24 PM PST
by VicVega
(LSU is without a doubt the #1 team in the nation. GEAUX TIGERS, Geaux Saints)

This is total B.S. Can’t they leave anything alone. What was he supposed to do, walk over to the over team and tell them he was sorry he scored. Life is a game - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Winners should be allowed to celebrate, losers should try and find out how they can win the next time. JUST STOP THIS SH**!! Between the politicians and a lot of parents our kids are being turned into a bunch of pansies.

10
posted on 12/07/2011 8:02:25 PM PST
by Grams A
(The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)

"Losing a game or having an official's call go against you or your team are all part of sports... Athletes must learn to put these things behind them... During their lifetime they will experience similar situations where they feel 'wronged' by a superior or authority figure and they must learn to deal with that situation."

This rationalization was made by the idiot-in-charge who earlier claimed the ref made "a great call".

Yes kids, life is full of self-important morons who think more of the "rules" than what's right, so you better just get used to it.

The best advice for these situations is something my dad used to tell me. "When you score, act as if you've been there before. Flip the ball to the ref and head back to the bench. There's nothing cooler."

Plenty of coaches have said it before and it really is the best way to to comport oneself on the ball field.

Another elephant in the room. This would seem to a cultural issue. When whites dominated the sports world they scored and went to the sidelines. Now that blacks dominate when they score they feel the need to have a solid gold dancers moment. We’re trying to make blacks like whites. It doesn’t seem to be working. Put everyone through the military for two years and we might just get there. Otherwise, it isn’t happening.

As if cheerleader action is NOT at least as “bad”? Come on this is a sport, and if NCAA itself is calling that a taunt, well they must have miiiiiighty thin skin. Sure he ought to obey the rules, even if stupid, but stupid rules ought to be subject to revision and this would likely head the list. It’s not like the would be scorer thumbed his nose or sumfin.

‘Honey Badger’ ahd a faux touchdown in the 2011 SEC championship game. Finishing a kick return, he did not cross the goal line in possession of the ball. But that touchdown was allowed and the day turned in LSU’s favor from there. These things all depend upon which state the game is played and what schools are involved.

27
posted on 12/07/2011 8:23:28 PM PST
by MHGinTN
(Some, believing they cannot be deceived, it's impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)

The coaches in the NCAA wanted this particular kind of taunting added to the rules this year. The NCAA followed and added it. It was used twice in the NCAA this year and touchdowns were called back. As written, the division these HS teams are in follow those rules. Kids know it before going in. Sucks, but it happened.

29
posted on 12/07/2011 8:27:22 PM PST
by VicVega
(LSU is without a doubt the #1 team in the nation. GEAUX TIGERS, Geaux Saints)

Well, to take an argument from a thread earlier today attacking Romney for saying he had kept his marriage together — if you celebrate winning, you are really just attacking losers by telling them that winning is better.

In 1965 my high school football team won the state championship. We jumped and shouted and even put our fists in the air. We beat them fair and square. We also went out and shook the opposing teams hand. We did nothing wrong. We did not fear the opposing team, but we did fear our coach Mr. Hillman. We would never do anything wrong that would bring shame to Coach Hillman. The fear we had of coach Hillman was not of punishment. We feared greatly his disapproval.

Your confused again on who wanted it and who instituted it based on the majority of the coaches request. Excessive taunting happens in all aspects of the game regardless if the team is winning or losing. Watch someone go ape sh*t when they make a tackle. In some cases it can be flagged as excessive and a penalty of 15 yards usually follows. In this particular case the HS student wasn’t winning, they were behind by 4 points if I recall. He taunted the other player and got called for it.

38
posted on 12/07/2011 8:47:31 PM PST
by VicVega
(LSU is without a doubt the #1 team in the nation. GEAUX TIGERS, Geaux Saints)

Back when the high school I went to did pep rallies, it was amazing and amusing what the cheerleader squads came up with to taunt the opposition. For example, one rival team called the Commodores was dubbed the “Commode Odors.” Nobody really cared because the razzing was mutual.

But, it may be that players have become such prima donnas now that this is needed to head off donnybrooks on the field. Sad.

If sportsmanship is failing, it surely is because social ethics and morality themselves are failing. Just because a sport is a sport doesn’t mean that it can’t get very ungodly, and coaches can at best have limited influence. It’s a social problem.

I fear the efforts will be mostly in vain and will be more parallel to an over-legislated, over-lawyered society. How about penalizing the donnybrooks, not the on field celebrations? If Player A winning a touchdown waves (non menacingly) at opposing Player B, make them kiss, hug, or shake hands in the middle of the field or something, but don’t screw up the scoring system.

A bad call for sure. But on another note, I here that the NFL plans to dress all quarterbacks and receivers in pink next year and have them wear yellow flags on each side for the defense to grab instead of tackling them. Also, all running backs will have to be tackled from behind so as to not cause any head on head hits. I believe I will be watching the Lingerie League where things will be a bit tougher and more exciting.

As I wrote before, score the touchdown first. He was heading untouched into the end zone. Once you score the touchdown, than do all the dancing and parading around you want. You will most likely be penalized, but the score counts. You will probably get a 15 yard penalty assessed from the kickoff line. The TD stands. He just had to score first. Its so simple. That would have left the opposing team with perhaps good yardage, but the outcome could have been better.

50
posted on 12/07/2011 9:31:51 PM PST
by VicVega
(LSU is without a doubt the #1 team in the nation. GEAUX TIGERS, Geaux Saints)

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